Looking Back at 2022: Tech Companies Step Up Layoffs

If 2022 is to be remembered for anything in technology, it will unfortunately be remembered as the year tech employment, which was on a long upward trajectory before the COVID-19 pandemic, has come to a screeching halt.

While the signs that technology companies were in for trouble started surfacing before mid-year, the last few months have seen a notable uptick in major layoffs. Twitter, after being purchased by volatile tech entrepreneur Eton Musk, proceeded to unceremoniously fire half of its employees, and Musk so far has reneged on initial promises the layoffs will end.  Meta, which owns Facebook and several other social media platforms, laid off 13% of its workforce of 87,000 employees, as questions arose as whether Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s obsession with metaverse development is costing the company in the near term.

Some of the companies that have engaged in rounds of layoffs are young companies that have added significant numbers of workers to their payrolls in recent years, banking on optimistic growth forecasts and buoyed by rounds of venture capital funding. But a slowdown in growth and fears of an impending recession have brought a dose of reality to many of these companies, whose CEOs admit they have overstaffed during the boom times.

Related:Are Darker Days Ahead for Tech Employment?

When will the bloodletting end? With the month of December upon us, there’s a good possibility of more layoffs in coming weeks, putting a damper on the holiday season. Companies such as semiconductor giant Intel have stated they would likely lay off workers, though when and how many workers are affected is not yet known.

Some of the more notable layoffs to date follow in the gallery below.

Spencer Chin is a Senior Editor for Design News covering the electronics beat. He has many years of experience covering developments in components, semiconductors, subsystems, power, and other facets of electronics from both a business/supply-chain and technology perspective. He can be reached at [email protected].